High hopes for Old Town treehouse

Charlene Gardner points to the lookout area on Wayne Edward’s drawing of a proposed lighthouse/treehouse at Oyster Factory Park.

Hilton Head Island's Harbour Town has its signature red and white striped, 93-foot-tall lighthouse.

The island's Shelter Cove Harbour has its landmark in a 12-foot-tall, bronze statue of King Neptune doubling as a sundial.

Bluffton would get its own icon - a giant treehouse/lighthouse overlooking the May River in Oyster Factory Park in Old Town - if Charlene Gardner succeeds in her one-woman project to draft supporters and then funding.

The rough cost estimate to build the mostly wood structure, which would wrap around a live oak tree near the riverbank and reach about 50 feet skyward, is $500,000 or more. Gardner said she would solicit private funding.

Gardner owns and operates Four Corners Art Gallery and Fine Framing shop downtown at 1263-B May River Road. Through it, she hooked onto the treehouse dream when artist and sculptor Wayne Edwards, who she represents by hanging his artwork in her gallery, showed her the Oyster Factory Park treehouse/lighthouse conceptual drawing he says he made in 2007 for town officials.

"It just took my breath away when I saw it," Gardner said.

She decided to awaken a sleeping public art giant that never before drew attention.

"As far as I know this would be the only treehouse- lighthouse in existence in the world," Edwards said Thursday. "It has a lighthouse on the top of it, so it's a combination of a treehouse and a lighthouse. It also includes a museum in the tower that goes up to the lighthouse."

A couple months ago, encouraged by her interest, Edwards said he drew a second, bird's-eye view of his concept for her to show.

Edwards would like to build the structure and has the resume to back his vision. He said he's built around 30 treehouses around the Southeast and in Central America and the Caribbean. They include the original Harbour Town playground treehouse, built in the early 1970s and since knocked down for a parking lot. Closer to home, he designed and built two treehouses in Bluffton's Palmetto Bluff development - in 2003 at Moreland Landing and in 2006 at West Wilson.

Edwards also created the King Neptune statute, dedicated in 1983. It, too, has a Bluffton tie. The model was Bluffton potter and former Town Councilman Jacob Preston, who shared a studio with Edwards at the time.

Concept's origin

Edwards said Thursday he drew the first conceptual drawing for an Oyster Factory Park treehouse/lighthouse, for no charge, for town consideration. It's dated 2007.

"I was asked to do it by the then-town manager, Josh Martin and a few other people," he said. "By the time I got them produced, there were new people in the town government; Josh had moved on and they didn't seem to be receptive to the proposal that I was asked to give."

"Charlene has been talking it up and trying to get interest in it again, which I very much appreciate. I think it would be a great addition to Bluffton," Edwards said.

Martin served as town manager about two years, from mid-2004 to mid-2006, and Bill Workman was the town's next chief executive.

Friday, Martin didn't recall asking Edwards to design an Oyster Factory Park treehouse, but said the park was being master planned and that could have been one of the possible components. "Wayne has a very good memory abut that kind of stuff ... .

I'm not going to doubt Wayne," Martin said.

"It's something I think is a great idea. His structures are fabulous," Martin added.

Getting approval

Town Manager Anthony Barrett said Thursday that Gardner recently asked him how she might get the treehouse approved.

"I know nothing about Mr. Edwards being commissioned or how it came about," Barrett said. "... I simply mentioned to her that a place to start the process to amend the (park master) plan would be with the Historic Preservation Commission and Planning Commission and then to council. Because there is an adopted plan and because we have partners, it may very well need a sign off by the county and the state," he said.

"The tree house is unique and could be a draw for tourist and visitors. However there are a number of approvals needed," he said.A state signoff might be needed as part of park project grant funding, he said.

Beaufort County's park ownership and partnership with the town requires its approvals of park changes. The Beaufort County Open Land Trust's purchase assistance also gives it a say, town officials said.

The mayor's view

Mayor Lisa Sulka said Thursday she supports the treehouse project if it can be done without town taxes. She said she was at Gunter's business for a framing three or four months ago when Gunter showed her the treehouse/lighthouse concept.

"I love it. I think it is an awesome idea. She's going to have to spearhead it .... I think it's beautiful. We just don't have the funding for it now," Sulka said.

"I blessed her," Sulka said of Gunter and her effort. "Isaid, 'Go for it, but you've got to do it.'"

The mayor also said it would take Gunter a year to go through the review and approvals process.

"It's a very expensive amenity," Sulka said. "The funding for it is going to be the stickler. I don't think it hurts to get it through the process and see if everybody likes it, at least to get it approved. You never know what kind of nice benefactor might step forward and want to do it," Sulka said.

"Anything to get people to see the river who've never seen the river, to me, is a win-win."

The first hoop

Gunter presented the concept to the Historic Preservation Commission during an informal discussion period at its meeting last week and showed the two drawings.

"I have no stake in the project," she told them. But when she saw the concept, "I thought it spoke to Bluffton and what Bluffton has always been -

eccentric."

The commissioners, who review designs for projects in the historic district, liked what they saw.

Chairman Hank McCracken said it would be a great attraction for the community park, and he would write a letter to the Town Council suggesting it "look into having Wayne Edwards design an iconic lookout tower at the Oyster Factory Park."

Tammy Malone, town facilities director, and Katie Woodruff, neighborhood preservation planner, said town purchasing guidelines and grant rules could require opening the project design and construction to competitive bidding. But Gardner wondered if that might be avoided if private funding was used.

Lowcountry spectacle

Edwards said his concept is for "essentially a five-story structure," and the two lowest floors with about 2,000 square feet could be used for oyster roasts, weddings and receptions.

"It was designed for a specific tree," he said.

From the top, "a 16 foot-by-16 foot deck area which is actually the lighthouse top ... the view will probably be the best view in the Lowcountry. You'll be able to see everything."

An optional canopy walk would let visitors cross above Wharf Street to the Bluffton Oyster Co. side of the park. "I thought that might be a neat way to get people across that road ..... They'd be crossing it up in the canopy of the tree," Edwards said.